By Heather Ervin, as published in the Festus-Jefferson County Leader .

Robert Parton said he was touched by the support his family received after a fire destroyed their home on July 15.

Within hours of the fire, the Parton family was offered a free, two-night stay in the Holiday Inn Express in Festus and a $400 debit card courtesy of the Red Cross.

"They were a lifesaver for us," Parton said. "Without them we would have been living behind a rock."

Parton said several neighbors on Miller Drive in Crystal City offered his family clothing and food.

"It was almost tear-jerking to see how the neighbors stood up," Parton said. "They were up all night with us. They fed us and opened their doors to us."

Crystal City Assistant Fire Chief Tony Bova said the blaze was likely started by an electrical malfunction in the laundry room.

Bova said the four-alarm fire gutted the house, destroying it.

"(The house) would have to be torn down and rebuilt," Bova said. "By the time we got there the flames were going through the roof."

Bova said in addition to the Crystal City Fire Department, firefighters from Festus, Hematite, Herculaneum and R-7 were called to the scene.

"The fire was out about 45 minutes after we got there," said Bova who got the call at about 2:40 a.m. "Overall it was time consuming because we had to make sure the hot spots were out."

Parton said he and his wife stood outside until nearly 6 in the morning.

"My wife didn't even want to leave that day," Parton said. "We would never get this kind of attention and support from a city like we did here."

Parton said he and his wife, Laurie, were the only people home at the time of the fire.

The couple has a 13-year-old daughter, Ciarra, who was at a slumber party.

"We just got a cat because my daughter wanted one. It had four kittens and fleas," Parton said. "We set off some flea bombs at about 7:30 p.m. that night."

Parton said his wife was laundering all the bedding in the home to wash out the effects of the insecticide.

"I was setting on the back porch waiting for my sheet to get done (in the dryer) so I could go to bed when I noticed there wasn't a light coming (out) through my windows."

When Parton opened the door to go inside, smoke came out.

"I figured the smoke was hiding the lights in the house," Parton said.

Parton got his wife, who was lying on the couch, grabbed their cats and escaped. "We had two little canary birds that we forgot, but the firefighter got them," Parton said.

Parton, who suffers from a sleep disorder, said if his laundry had been done 30 minutes earlier, he would have gone to bed and might have been asleep when the fire took hold.

"My bedroom is right by the laundry room," Parton said. "I would have never made it out. We're just glad that no one was hurt. Everybody (who helped) was unbelievable."

The Partons have five older children and 11 grandchildren who do not live at the residence.